OnePlus 3 RAM Management Fix: How to Utilize All 6GB RAM

The new OnePlus 3 comes with a whopping 6GB of RAM, but all that RAM isn’t really utilized. Here’s a OnePlus 3 RAM management fix that will solve the problem.

Yes, the OnePlus 3 is a powerful smartphone that costs half of what a Galaxy S7 sells for. It outperforms a lot of other smartphones, but there are a few problems. For example, the 6GB RAM variant of the OnePlus 3, doesn’t really use all the RAM.

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Tests conducted have shown that the smartphone only uses around 3-4GB of RAM at a time. Apparently, the OnePlus 3 cannot run more than 12 applications at a time. Although that’s not that bad, the OnePlus doesn’t really manage multi-tasking well. Apps in the background are restarted when opened again, which is bad RAM management.

OnePlus CEO Carl Pei also took to Twitter and confirmed that the smartphone doesn’t use all of its RAM. This was done to improve the battery life, apparently. However, there is a way to use all of the 6GB RAM, and make the OnePlus 3 super fast when it comes to multi-tasking.

OnePlus 3 RAM Management Fix

The process involves rooting the OnePlus 3 and editing a certain kernel file. Now, OnePlus has no problems with you rooting your smartphone, and will not void your warranty. Therefore, if you want your OnePlus 3 to utilize all the RAM, then here’s what you need to do.

Note: This is not really a bug, as OnePlus has done on purpose to improve battery life. Only if you are big on multi-tasking, and like to fiddle around with root files, should you do it. It does improve performance, as seen in several comparison videos. Smartphones with way less RAM manage to outpace the OnePlus 3 in terms of app launching and multi-tasking.

This fix, or improvement, was discovered by an XDA developer member and is quite easy to do. Tests performed after editing the file showed a lot of improvement in the performance. Firstly, you will have to root your OnePlus 3, and this is as easy as installing an app. And, OnePlus is okay with it.

Once you’re done rooting, install any app that lets you edit the build.prop file on your device. For example, the BuildProp Editor is a good app and available for free in the Play Store.

Now, search for “ro.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=20” using the editor. Change the value 20 to something like 42 and grant root permissions to apply changes. Reboot your OnePlus 3 and your device should now be using all of the available 6GB of RAM.

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Are you going to be using this OnePlus 3 RAM fix? Or are you happy with the performance?

Comments

I find it both amusing and somewhat dismaying that few in the Android community understand anything about memory management. All 6GB are being used. One Plus engineers, like their excellent Samsung counterparts are wisely leaving plenty of memory available for the Linux Page Cache and Buffer Cache. Tuning the device to “use all 6GB” will leave more programs in memory, at great expense in terms of flash accesses. i.e. the apps you are actually using won’t be as fast as if you had left the vm tuning knobs at the default settings. Basically, if you don’t know what a page cache, buffer cache, or zram is… don’t mess with the vm settings on your Android phone.